As Optics and Photonics Newsstates, “Current methods for shaping biomaterials, including soft- and photolithography, are limited to two dimensions and don’t offer much in the way of customization.” Tufts researchers, led by Associate Dean for Research and Professor, Fiorenzo Omenetto, “used low-energy (< nJ) femtosecond laser pulses to create 2-D and 3-D patterns in soft, transparent silk-protein hydrogels. They were able to achieve micromachining at a depth of 1 cm—reportedly more than 10 times deeper than any other biomaterial—at a lateral resolution of 5 µm.”

Details Daily Blogincludes Tuft’s University discovery of a poly-silk bionink on their list of “10 Groundbreaking Innovations Changing How We Live”. This new discovery “will make printing tissues, organs, bone, and other organic materials a real possibility.”

CNBChighlights the accomplishments of 17-year-old Olivia Hallisey, “who designed a low cost, portable test for Ebola” and is the grand prize winner of the 2015 Google Science Fair. “Hallisey’s diagnostic for the Ebola virus offers results in less than 30 minutes and allows for rapid detection even when patients lack any symptoms. The design includes a silk-containing card that stores Ebola antibodies for up to a week without refrigeration.”

Tuft’s University biomedical engineers have been commended on Technology Networks article for their publication of the “first report of a promising new way to induce human mesenchymal stem cells to differentiate into neuron-like cells:treating them with exosomes.” Tufts Assistant Professor, Qiaobing Xu, is the paper’s senior and corresponding author.

Tufts Assistant Professor Qiaobing Xu and colleagues’ research on regenerative medicine using stem cells “is an increasingly promising approach to treat many types of injury” shares TuftsNow. “Transplanted stem cells can differentiate into just about any other kind of cell, including neurons to potentially reconnect a severed spinal cord and repair paralysis.”

U.S. Secretary of Defense Ash Carter acknowledged the role that Professor Kathleen Fisher played in the creation of the High-Assurance Cyber Military Systems (HACMS) program at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA).
Secretary Carter opened DARPA’s “Wait What?” Future Technology Forum in St. Louis by discussing some of the technological advances made through programs such as HACMS.
“After years in a corporate-research lab, [Fisher] came to DARPA on a three-year tour in 2011, where she launched a program that uses so-called formal methods to make certain software, like the code behind physical control systems of an airplane or a self-driving car, to help them become mathematically provably unhackable,” said Carter.